PHOENIX >> The Dodgers could be ready to take the bubble wrap off Julio Urias.

The 20-year-old left-hander made his third start of the season for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday night and took a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning. In the longest of his three starts, Urias threw 93 pitches over 5-2/3 innings – the kind of extended outing that would seem to signal his readiness to join the Dodgers’ starting rotation.

That plan would seem to have him lined up to start Wednesday in San Francisco when the spot in the rotation currently occupied by Alex Wood (who filled in for Rich Hill) comes around again.

Roberts would not say where Urias’ next start would be. But he would not eliminate the possibility of it coming with the Dodgers.

“He might,” Roberts said with a smile. “Cryptic?

“We’ll see. Julio threw well.”

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman only offered that there was nothing “definitive” to say about Urias’ next step at this point.

In his first two starts for the OKC Dodgers, Urias walked six and gave up six hits in 8-1/3 innings. But Friday night, he was sharper, allowing just two hits and walking three while striking out six.

“The ball was coming out. Everything was good,” Roberts said of Urias’ first two starts. “But the efficiency, finishing hitters off, it wasn’t there. That last start yesterday was the way it’s supposed to look. It was real encouraging to us.”

Leaning left

For Dayton, it was his first time throwing off a mound since going on the 10-day DL with a strained muscle in his left side. He expects to go on a rehab assignment while the Dodgers are in San Francisco next week and Roberts said he would likely come off the DL when he is eligible Friday.

Hill, meanwhile, continues his attempts to deal with the recurring blister on the middle finger on his pitching hand. He threw a 25-pitch bullpen session Saturday with the finger covered after throwing 50 long tosses Friday, most of them with the finger covered.

Hill has been using an assortment of remedies including Drysol (an antiperspirant solution), putting his hand in a rice bucket each day and former Dodgers trainer Stan Johnston’s anti-blister ointment. Hill said the Dodgers’ medical staff has even looked into the research on blisters but most of it applies to foot blisters suffered by distance runners.

“The only thing that’s going to heal it is time,” Hill said. “Unfortunately that and throwing and toughening it up every time you go out there.”

The treatments have succeeded in toughening up the skin on his finger, Hill said. The question now is how well the skin will hold up when Hill resumes pitching without covering the finger. Hill said he anticipates throwing more and more without anything covering his finger. Roberts said he expects Hill to go on a rehab assignment to test that under game conditions.

“We don’t have a date planned right now,” Roberts said. “But I do see him going out to make a rehab start. How many pitches, we haven’t decided yet how deep he’s going to go.”

Roberts indicated no decision has been made on whether Hill will definitely return as a starting pitcher or whether the lower pitch counts of bullpen duty might be necessary to keep the blister from worsening during starts.

As for Kazmir, he remains in the same limbo the Dodgers left him in when spring training ended.

He threw a 40-pitch bullpen session at Chase Field on Saturday, two days after being removed from a game in extended spring training due to left hip tightness. Kazmir’s velocity remains down and there are no indications he is ready to pitch competitively at any level – let alone for the Dodgers – any time soon.

“With Kaz, I still think it’s one of those things where he’s got to continue to show the consistency in the delivery, the velocity and the pitch mix,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to put a timeline on Kaz.”

Kazmir’s three-year, $48 million contract runs through the 2018 season with half of it deferred until 2019 through 2021.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.